The West Bend Current

By Liz Lewandowski, Current Staff

Many students at the West Bend High Schools are confused about why only the ninth graders received new Chromebooks.

The district’s facilities and technology department issued new Chromebooks with new features to incoming WBHS students starting in August. This was part of a long-range plan developed by the district in order to regularly enhance the learning experience and keep it up to date.

Based on an unsubstantiated rumor that the Chromebooks were ordered by mistake, many students have questions about the process.

“These devices were purchased as part of our normal upgrade process of removing older devices that are end of life,” said Tim Harder, director of facilities, confirming the purchase was not in error. “This is something that is done every school year as part of our technology rotation plan. As the devices they are replacing are four or five years old, they often come with new technological enhancements, additions, and upgrades from the previous models.”

These devices are the Hewlett-Packard (HP) Chromebook x360 11 G4 EE released in July 2022.

The new Chromebooks come with not just a new look, but many new features as well. The computers were acquired through a bidding process and arrived with more computing capacity, new cases, a second forward-facing camera in order to help with school projects and a stylus to expand options for learning support.

“They have a lot of features the old ones didn’t have,” East ninth grader Ocean Young-McMahon said. “Specifically, I like the stylus because it makes certain assignments easier.”

Some upperclassmen look at the new Chromebooks with envy. East junior Cassie Jerich especially wonders why she can’t have a stylus, too.

“I don’t understand why the freshmen get better Chromebooks than the other grades,” Jerich said. “The upperclassmen have been here for longer and they don’t get any upgrades. The upperclassmen are more likely to take AP classes and better features are more helpful for us than it would be for them.”

However, the Chromebooks aren’t just given out whenever the district feels like it. A schedule was developed in order to ensure usefulness, obtain security updates and make sure they can get software upgrades. Students in the district are given new Chromebooks in kindergarten, fifth grade and then finally in ninth grade.

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(Top image: Ocean Young-McMahon, a ninth grader at West Bend East High School, uses the stylus that came with her new district-issued Chromebook. Photo taken today by Liz Lewandowski, Current Staff.)